Secret Saturdays (12 page)

The hallway outside the main office was filled with loud students in coats, scarves, gloves, and hats. All flowing toward the exit doors. I joined the crowd and was soon outside with the cold air on my face. Kyle and Vanessa were on the sidewalk waiting for me.

“I heard,” Vanessa said.

“How long he suspended?” Kyle asked.

We all started walking downhill to our bus stop.

“The whole week after break,” I said. “I hope his mom doesn't OD and ground him for the break and the next week too. Then we might not speak to him for two weeks.”

“Now what?” Vanessa asked.

“You should stop by his apartment to see him,” I told her.

She bit her lip and thought it over. After two seconds, she said, “Even if his mom lets me in, I don't think Sean'll just tell me what's been going on.”

“All this is because of his secret Saturday trips. I can feel it. Maybe he has things lying around that show where he's been. A bus ticket. A souvenir. If you see it, point it out. Say something like, ‘Sean, where you go?' That might get him to open up.”

Vanessa watched some boys play tag. One ran into the street and almost got hit by a car. The driver screeched to a stop, shot his head out, and yelled, “Animal!”

“You think Sean's bugging from his trips?” Vanessa asked me. “Maybe it's from something else. Like what Manny said. Sean only flipped on Manny when Manny joked on both Sean and his dad being fruity. Maybe they gay and we never knew.”

“Yeah,” Kyle said, changing his mind. “Maybe he lives in Puerto Rico with his gay boyfriend.”

“Sean does stay getting little tiny, shiny things from his father,” I said. “Grown men aren't into that. Females are. And gay guys probably.”

Suddenly I wished me and Sean had talked more about his pops. I never pressed him about his because I didn't want to hear him brag when mine was a jerk. I knew one thing. When we were little, Sean never went to see his dad in Puerto Rico. And his pops didn't visit him. I didn't think anything of it because it was the same with me. I never went to see my father and he stayed ghost too. Maybe now Sean's mom had come into some money and started taking Sean to visit his pops in PR.

I snapped my fingers and said to Kyle, “Remember they had that suitcase? I wonder if Sean and Jackie went to the airport.

“Vanessa, you been to PR,” I said. “Can you leave early Saturday and be back for school on Monday?”

“No doubt. When we flew there, it took two hours. You can go and be back in a day.”

“Dang, son.” I punched my fist into my palm. “Sean didn't tell us he was visiting him because he probably thought we'd ask questions.” I paused. “None of Manny's other disses made Sean want to fight.” I looked at Vanessa. “That's even more reason to pop up at Sean's. See if it's true.”

Vanessa nodded. “Okay,” she said. “But you think his dad really gets down like that?”

AT FIRST,
I felt Vanessa spying in Sean's place was a good idea, but that night, the idea seemed wack. Why'd I even ask her to do that? If Sean busted her snooping, she probably would snitch and say I made her do it. I checked the digital clock on my dresser. It read 10 P.M.

“You missed it,” Kyle said. “Didn't you?”

Kyle was on the floor playing Hunt or Be Hunted again. I was so busy picturing Sean busting Vanessa, I had missed Kyle zapping the biggest alien at the highest level. When I looked at the TV screen, a pile of ashes with two eyeballs blinked back at me. Kentucky Fried Alien.

“You think Vanessa is at Sean's?” I said.

“Most definitely,” Kyle said. “She hasn't called. That means they together. Relax.” Kyle pulled out a 50 Cent album from my stack of CDs and pointed at 50's pissed face. “This how you look. Calm down.”

I rolled my eyes at him and restarted the video game. When I reached Level 2, my cell rang my favorite Black Bald song. It was Vanessa calling from her house phone.

“Hello?”

“You guys were right,” Vanessa said. “Sean and his mom been breaking out.”

“Kyle's here,” I said. “I'm putting you on speakerphone.” I was amped. Seven hours ago, Sean had gotten suspended. Since then, Vanessa had found out something. Crazy fast.

“Go ahead.”

“When I went to Sean's apartment, his mom was happy I came because I brought Sean's schoolwork for our break. His mother said his teachers didn't make a homework packet for him.”

“Good move with the homework idea,” Kyle said.

“Thanks. Jackie pointed me to Sean's room. I knocked and he rushed me in, slamming his door hard like him and his mom were beefing. I said why I came. When he sat at his computer, I saw these CDs on his desk. Underneath them an envelope stuck halfway out. ‘I LOVE YOU, SEAN' was written everywhere on it in different colored pens. Red. Green. Blue. Letters so big I saw them from where I stood. Whoever wrote that really wanted Sean knowing they loved him. Anyway, Sean's mom all of sudden yelled for him. He flung his door open and said all mean, ‘What?' Jackie shouted back, ‘Keep talking back to me and watch you get nothing for Christmas.'

“Sean went into the living room and slammed the door behind him. Maybe he did that so I couldn't hear them arguing. But I heard them shouting through the door. She's pissed at how he's behaved in school lately. Anyway, I rushed and looked under that stack of CDs. The envelope had a Polaroid stuck to it.”

“Was it a picture of Sean's dad with his gay boyfriend?” I asked.

“No!” Vanessa said, disgusted with me. “Sean's father definitely was in the picture, though. The Polaroid had writing in blue ink at the bottom saying, ‘Thanks, Sean, for the visits. When I'm home, I'll show you the type of dad I can be.' And Sean's father didn't seem gay. He looked thug. His face was harder than Principal Negron's. He had a baldie cut and rocked a wifebeater with green pants. Around him were diesel dudes just as gangster as him. They wore green pants too. I couldn't read where the envelope came from because the address was torn off when it was opened. Only two words were left. Clinton Co. That's it.”

I heard Vanessa's mom say, “End that call. It's almost time for you to go to bed.”

“I need to go,” Vanessa said, then paused. “Another thing. I . . . I . . . I think I did something stupid.”

“What?” me and Kyle said at the same time.

I felt my heart thump hard in my chest.

“Sean's rhymebooks were under a stack of textbooks. From how it was under all that, I thought he hadn't written in it in a while. So . . .” Vanessa stopped speaking and was quiet for two seconds like she thought about not finishing her sentence.

“So what?” Kyle asked.

“I grabbed one of his rhymebooks and stuffed it in my bookbag,” she said fast and nervous. “I have it right now. That was dumb, right? You think he'll miss it? I don't think he'll miss it. I mean it was buried under all that stuff. Then again . . .”

“Nah,” I said real slow to calm her. “Nah. It wasn't stupid. We got his thoughts right there. He might've written what's going on with him. We don't have a lot of time with that book, though. Bring it over first thing tomorrow. Let's read it, then sneak it back into his room.” I was trying to sound confident and convince Vanessa that grabbing his book wasn't stupid. But yo! She was dumb for doing that. I mean, she might be right. Sean probably wasn't writing lately. But still! I didn't want to risk us holding his rhymebook for too long.

“End that call,” Vanessa's mom said again.

“I need to go.”

“What you think is in Sean's rhymebook?” Kyle asked, slumping back in his chair. “I can't believe she took it. How's he not going to miss that?”

All I could think was that we had Sean's rhymes! We could figure this all out! That was more than I had wanted her to find.

“We really going to read his rhymebook?” Kyle asked.

“No doubt,” I said.

“This is crazy.” Kyle ejected his video game and grabbed his hoodie. “Tomorrow then.”

“Peace.”

“Hello?” Sean's mom answered.

“Hi, it's Justin.” Christmas music was playing in her apartment. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

“You not calling to ask if Sean can hang out, right?”

“No,” I said.

“Good. Because he's on punishment. And he's not getting on the phone.” She sounded heated. “He's not coming out either.”

“Okay.”

She got quiet for a second. “Justin. Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah?”

“Where were you when Sean was getting into all this? You're his best friend. You should've stopped him.”

I didn't know if I could sit on the phone and listen to her blame me when it was her fault Sean flipped. I wanted to tell her off.

“Me stop him?” I thought about saying. “Here are some things I did to stop him. First, I tried stopping him when he wilded out in gym. Second, in Advisory, I pulled him off Manny when they fought. No other kid did. Third, I went to the principal and tried to get Sean out of suspension. Fourth, I even brought Sean his homework so he wouldn't fall behind. So don't blame me. It's your fault Sean's in trouble. You taking him to Clinton Co . . . whatever. That place is messing him up.” But I didn't have the guts to say those things to her because she's grown. Instead, I agreed with her and we hung up.

But then I thought maybe I should have done more to help Sean. I just didn't know what else I could've done.

 

Two hours later, Kyle and Vanessa showed up at my house. Ma was napping in her room. Vanessa didn't even sit. She pulled Sean's rhymebook right out and handed it to me.

I felt like I had Sean's life in the palm of my hand. It felt good, but it didn't feel right. We were about to go through Sean's private thoughts. I had this feeling maybe we shouldn't do it but decided to go ahead with reading Sean's raps anyway. I needed to know what was going on.

“Did you look in it yet?” I asked Vanessa.

“No. I felt weird. Maybe we shouldn't even read it now.”

“Whatever.” I opened the book. Vanessa and Kyle slung their coats on my bed and sat on either side of me. For a split second, I had the same feeling in my stomach as when Sean dared me to go into the Grey House.

“I wonder if there's a rap in here about us,” I said. I started flipping through pages fast. Sean didn't have dates on his rhymes, which made it hard to find the ones about his Saturday trips. I put dates on all my raps. Just to make sure my rhymes stayed fresh and I didn't rap the same way I had the month before.

I came to a page with lyrics about Sean's mom. I scanned the verses and caught a line saying, “She takes good care of me,” and kept reading. But it was only some rap he wrote about his mom treating him nice.

I kept turning pages. I spotted a title. “Two-Faced.” My eyes zipped up and down the page. Bam. I read Sean's words out loud.